Biosimilars is the next big thing for generic cos: Biocon

Speaking on the development of the biosimilar drugs, Mazumdar-Shaw said the company has a very good pipeline, which it is developing with Mylan. She thinks biosimilars will be the next big opportunity for generic companies.

Mazumdar-Shaw added that Biocon is looking at various licensing opportunities, one of them being itolizumab, and are in discussions with various interested parties.

Below is the interview of Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon with Reema Tendulkar and Sumaira Abidi on CNBC-TV18

Reema: What has Biocon’s focus been on drug specifically catered to women?

A: As a company I have really focused on how do I enable and encourage women in science, women in business and of course I am very concerned about women patients around the world. Our research efforts are certainly focused on a number of programs that deliver drugs that women can benefit from. So we are developing and have developed life saving drugs for breast cancer, for cervical cancer.

We are focused on diabetes, gestational diabetes is something that a lot of women are challenged with. And we continue to look at the number of diseases which affect both men and women but where women are affected and challenged far more than men such as our psoriasis drug where of course it is something which is not life threatening but it is certainly something that is an embarrassment and is something like a curse to live with. So psoriasis is something that we have addressed, there are a number of women who have suffered from this debilitating and ugly disease have actually gained tremendous benefit and socially they are far more confident of themselves and I think we have made a big difference to their lives.

Reema: What are the drugs that the company has planned to launch with the likes of Mylan with which you already have a tie-up?

A: We have a very strong thrust on biosimilars and we have a very good pipeline of biosimilars that we are developing with our partner Mylan. We are developing trastuzumab which we have brought to the market and now globally trastuzumab is being developed and following that we have other products for rheumatoid arthritis which is the biosimialr version of Humira. We are developing bevacizumab which is otherwise known as avastin. We also have other products in the pipeline.

So we have a very rich pipeline of biosimilars and biosimilars is going to be the next big opportunity for generic companies, for India and for Biocon because I do believe that the biologics are very expensive drugs the world over and biosimilars obviously will play a very key role in making these very expensive drugs more affordable.

Sumaira: Can you tell us what is the movement on some of the opportunities such as IN-105 or oral insulin?

A: IN-105 or oral insulin is a very large opportunity but the challenge is how do you bring it to the market. Right now of course we are engaged in a number of trials to answer certain questions about the drug and once those questions are answered we will then move on to pivotal studies and those studies if the outcome is as expected obviously it can be a huge game changer in diabetes management.

Sumaira: So will there be any milestone payment or out licensing that we can expect going forward in FY15?

A: We are looking at various licensing opportunities and I think one of them is itolizumab which we are in discussions with various interested parties and this is a very important drug. So we don’t want to devalue the asset and we are looking to see how we can unlock good value from this asset.